Compare more urban Town Centers to the suburban and outlying city Town Centers for population and other factors. What surprises me is that the outlying centers, including Lake Grove, have very low population density and few amenities, yet this is where Metro wants to build "instant" town centers - compact development, medium- to high-density housing, employment, high capacity transit (light rail, streetcar, BRT -likely with dedicated lanes of traffic). All for the Live! Work! Play! Way of life. And count on any number of fingers how many Metro councilors or planners actually live where they plan.
From Metro:
"In 1995, with the support of the public and elected officials of the region, Metro adopted the 2040 Growth Concept as a vision to guide growth and development over the coming decades. The 2040 Growth Concept calls for maintaining the region's connections with nature, preserving existing neighborhoods, strengthening employment and industrial areas, and concentrating growth in designated centers and corridors. By adopting the 2040 Growth Concept, the region committed to create compact, vibrant communities and to protect the region's farm and forestland.
The 2040 Growth Concept designates 38 centers across the region (in addition to Downtown Portland) as the focus for redevelopment, multi-modal transportation and concentrations of households and employment. Since 1995, local governments have taken several actions to create vibrant centers, including amending their comprehensive plans, providing financial assistance and investing in essential public infrastructure."
Is anyone else sick of the word "vibrant" yet?
Planners love to fill their plans with the latest land use planning "fad" words. Lake Oswego's new Comprehensive Plan is full of them. Things like "Commercial Corners", "Neighborhood Villages" and "Twenty Minute Neighborhoods". The only problem is that the Comp Plan is supposed to be good for the next twenty years and in five years their will be a whole new vocabulary of planning words and nobody will remember what a "commercial corner" meant.
ReplyDeleteHow many planners work at Metro? Isn't it like 300? Lake Oswego has 25 planners and we are a built out city. Here's a vibrant idea for your readers. Let's significantly reduce the planning staff and replace them with implementers. You know, people who actually complete projects.
It depends on what they decide to implement. There are some things in the Comp Plan I hope stay on the shelf.
ReplyDeleteHow many planners does Metro have? Good question! But when they don't have enough they can always hire consultants.